Has anyone used LED strip lighting for their shaping bay ?
I don’t know of any reason not to.
The only reason I didn’t on a recent change out of fixtures was I like the convenience of the single pin 8 ft. tubes. I bought two new fixtures & a 15 bulb pack from Home Depot for a reasonable amount and they delivered them to me in a couple days. The single pins are super easy to change out. I embrace simplicity.
Some of the LED fixtures don’t give you the option to change out bulbs citing that the extremely longlife offered is merit enough for going that option. Others can be changed. LED’s are defintiely cooler putting off less heat. I changed over our house to LED’s but not my workshop.
I don’t think the quality of light obtained would be problematic for shaping given your set up is correct in the first place. The description I read on some of the LED’s was about how little energy they use for a much increased Lumen output for uses like shop lighting. In some cases, TOO MUCH LIGHT can be a detriment for shaping.
Some of the LED fixtures easily plug into one another, and I’m considering using them for setting back up my at home glass shop. After going thru this pandemic and having Haakeson complying with the governor and shutting down for 7-1/2 weeks, I realized the only person you can truly rely on is YOURSELF,so that prompted me to look at having the option to be completely independent of everyone. I will continue to use the glass shop but having the option to do my own stuff, or special projects, is a plus.
If things get screwy on a ‘2nd wave’ of Covid, then I’ll just have all my materials delivered to my property (home), produce, and ship from here. I won’t care about having to shelter, because I’ll be 100% based at home anyway.
Besides, who needs the added expense in overhead these days? Sometimes it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep.
…I have LED tubes as down lights (ceiling) in the sanding room. I think that for the glasssing bay is not good due to the reflection over the fiberglass not letting see the micro bubbles. mostly with clear laminations.
For the shaping bay is too intense and you do not need that directly to the rails. Also, and most important, the other side LED is just killing your eyes pointing at you.
Then the small strip lights is not enough to have a good lighting.